People try to manage health and wellness through a combination of a balanced diet and exercise. Dietary supplements are necessary for a healthy body and mind because of the gaps that occur based on normal variations in diet and schedules. In other cases, drugs are needed to keep the body healthy and fight diseases.
Today the market is filled with dietary supplements and drugs. However, the benefits drawn from these are not optimum. One reasons is that the substances are generic and not customized for an individual. Dietary supplements and drugs are marketed using a pre-packaged, one-size-fits-all approach. Although there are some variations, it is mostly the same irrespective of lifestyle, age, body/mind conditions and changing individual requirements.
The benefits of these substances decrease if they are not taken on a schedule. The body will utilize or remove nutrients over time, and so the desired effects may not be achieved if the substances are taken randomly or sporadically.
Furthermore, individual requirements change over time. For example, a person who has completed a long exercise regimen or is in bed with the flu has different requirements. Knowing the current state of the user and their usage is needed to fine tune the substance mix and dosage periodically.
One aspect to dose management is medication titration. In medicine, titration is the process of gradually adjusting the dose of a medication until optimal results are reached. For an example of this, see “ADHD Medication Titration Process: What to Expect” at http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/guide/adhd-medication-titration. The same thing is true for dietary supplements.
In 2002, Sanford Greenberg described a system that would provide a nutritional supplement regime based on a questionnaire that would ask questions on nutritional habits, exercise habits, health information and personal goals of the individual (US 20030069757 Ser. No. 10/265,537 2002). On completing the questionnaire, the user would receive the supplements in a case. No means to monitor the effects once the user receives the supplements or modify the dosages is provided by this system.
In 2002, Gentiluomo et al described a system that would dispense a customized pharmaceutical mixture from a plurality of containers containing multiple pharmaceutical substances based on the particular health information provided by a user and remind the user to take it (US20030010791 Ser. No. 10/194,001 2002). Once the user enters health information, there is no means to monitor its effects on the user or to modify the dosages based on the user's use or perceived effects of the mixture by the user.
In 2002, Pertti Lähteenmäki described a nutrition dispenser that would dispense doses of nutrients and/or medications from rooms based on the user's genetic background and inputs from the user and one or more probability weighting coefficients between various parameters (U.S. Pat. No. 7,295,889 2002). This dispenser dispenses nutrients based on an analysis of the user's needs based on a single set of calculations, with no system for monitoring the actual dosages or effects over time.
In 2005, Ralph Koekkoek described a system that would compound a personalized nutritional supplement based on genotypic analysis, phenotypic analysis, a list of one or more nutritional needs and a nutritional supplement recipe (CA 2587240 2005). The resulting compound is presented to the user, and if needs change or if the desired effect is not achieved there is no mechanism presented.
In 2005, Bralley et al described a system that would prepare a metabolic supplement from micronutrients based on a metabolic profile from a specimen from a subject (US20100266723 Ser. No. 12/451,623). The resulting compound is based on no input from the user and there is no mechanism presented to monitor the usage or effects over time.
In 2010, Reider et al described a system that would provide a recommended daily supplement package based on a single requested user questionnaire (US 20110014351 Ser. No. 12/837,210 2010). On completing the questionnaire, the user would receive a list of supplements. In this system, there is no dispensing, ordering, or feedback mechanism presented.
In 2011, Nabil M. Abujbara described a system that would accept health information and personal attributes of a user, presenting the user with a food item list and continuously updating the list based on entry of the actual food items consumed and changes in the user's reported health and food consumption information. (US 20120083669 Ser. No. 13/252,620). The system requires the user to manage the supplement intake without the benefit of a dispensing mechanism to prepare the supplements, to re-order the supplements when it is detected they are running out, or to monitor the actual usage of supplements.
In 2011, Timothy Hughes described a method of providing a four-week container and supplement dispenser with intra-daily compartments, the contents of which are based on genetic analysis (US 20130022951 Ser. No. 13/136,041). In this system, there is no dispensing mechanism to monitor the actual usage, nor is there any mechanism presented to change the supplement makeup as the contents are based on a fixed mechanism (genetic analysis).
What is needed is mobile apparatus to monitor the intake of dietary supplements and drugs that can continuously fine tune the mix and dosage of the substances, adapting to the changes in the personal goals and health of a user and the user's consumption of and reaction to the substances, and further improve adherence to the program by providing feedback and encouragement to the user based on their actual usage.